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WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz said on conservative Glenn Beck’s radio show that if the United States strikes Syria it will be acting as “al Qaeda’s air force.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (Mike Fuentes/Bloomberg)

That prompted a stern rebuke from an Illinois lawmaker – a fellow Republican – at this afternoon’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Syria.

“I have heard people say, and it has really bothered me — they say that if we go in and we strike Assad, and make him pay for the use of chemical weapons… that we are acting as, quote, `Al Qaeda’s Air Force,’ ” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger. “That is a cheap line by some people to garner headlines and not a serious discussion about what is going on in Syria.”

Kinzinger — an Air Force pilot and major in the Air National Guard — asked Secretary of State John Kerry what he thought of the Texas senator’s colorful characterization, though neither cited Cruz by name.

Kerry responded by taking issue with the suggestion that a strike would aid any terror group. “It won’t help al Qaeda. It will further expose al Qaeda. But it will hold a dictator accountable to this critical standard,” he said.

Failing to act, he said, would allow Assad to act with impunity, and “completely undermine America’s credibility, America’s word in the region and elsewhere. It will embolden North Korea and embolden Iran.”

Thousands of tea party activists rallied at the U.S. Capitol today, to rail against the IRS, illegal immigration, NSA surveillance and the Obama administration.

update: Wayne Slater caught Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech while I was tied up with Sen. Boxer. As he reports above, Cruz used the tea party rally spotlight to call for reassigning IRS agents. “Take every one of those IRS agents and put them on our southern border,” he joked. “If you were crossing the border illegally and you saw an army of IRS agents, you’d turn around and go home.”

WASHINGTON – Thousands of tea party activists rallied at the U.S. Capitol this afternoon, railing against the IRS, the Obama administration, Democrats generally, and illegal immigration.

“This really is to show Congress they better get their rears in gear, because the people are tired. We have no answers on any of the scandals, all the way back to Fast and Furious,” said Katrina Pierson, a Dallas tea party activist who was among the dozens of speakers.

“There’s one [scandal] after another. We’re going in circles. Nobody’s been held accountable,” she said as Glenn Beck addressed the crowd. “And of course we want to abolish the IRS. You have American citizens who were singled out and targeted, admittedly, knowingly and willingly, and no one’s in jail.”

Out in the crowd, signs included “Audit the IRS” and

“Big gov’t? No thanks!” and “Deport the IRS” and “Spy on Islam, not Americans.”

The outspoken Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, fired up the crowd.

“Some of us have been praying that American eyes would be opened to a very subversive, oppressive – let’s see, what are good words? Oh yeah: divisive, dismissive, derisive American government.” he said. “Guess what — I think our prayers are being answered. People are awakening. A majority of people are saying we don’t trust the government.”

The IRS, he said, embodies the problems with government, he said, adding: “It’s time for a change and America has awakened to that.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the tea party movement can “make 2010 look like a Sunday picnic for the Democrats.”

Gov. Rick Perry looks down the barrel of a vintage 1928 Thompson submachine gun while campaigning in Beaufort, S.C., on Dec. 8, 2011. (file/New York Times)

Sen. Ted Cruz's aggressive opposition to restrictions on assault weapons ensures his popularity at May's NRA convention. Here, he makes a point at a Senate hearing on gun violence, using a life size photo of a Remington 750, and a plastic pistol grip.

WASHINGTON – The National Rifle Association is coming to Houston, and two Texas leaders will be on hand to rally the gun rights loving troops.

Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Ted Cruz are confirmed speakers on May 3, opening day of the three-day annual convention. Given their outspoken advocacy for the Second Amendment, both are sure to be wildly popular.

Cruz has used his perch on the Senate Judiciary Committee to resist restrictions on guns and high capacity ammunition clips. Perry — who took down a coyote with a Ruger .380 while out for a jog three years ago — blasted President Obama’s response to the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., by blaming the “evil prowling in the world,” not the availability of the sorts of guns used by the killer. “The Second Amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president,” he said.

Conservative TV commentator Glenn Beck, who also counts as a Texan now, will keynote a “Stand and Fight Rally” the next day. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also will speak, along with former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

Perry and Cruz both speak this week at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering in Washington. The governor speaks Thursday afternoon. Cruz keynotes the closing event Saturday afternoon.

Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan, shown at a June ballgame in Arlington, endorsed Senate hopeful David Dewhurst on Friday. Ryan said Dewhurst deserves some of the credit for the state's strong economy.

Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan endorsed David Dewhurst for U.S. Senate on Friday.

“Texas has created more jobs than any other state in the nation and we’ve developed the best business climate in America because of leaders like David Dewhurst,” Ryan said.

Dewhurst, a third-term lieutenant governor, “is a businessman, a veteran and native Texan who understands the challenges we face as a state and as a nation,” the Hall of Fame pitcher said.

Could that “native Texan” line have been an oblique — maybe, subliminal — reference to the fact that Dewhurst's opponent in the July 31 Senate GOP runoff is Ted Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Alberta? (To Houston residents who were running an oil-drilling seismic data firm up there?)

If endorsements sway anyone, you have to say Dewhurst has had a good week: Nolan Ryan, Tom Leppert, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

However, Cruz may have gotten more oomph out of radio talk-show host Glenn Beck's fawning comment to Cruz, who appeared on Beck's show this week:

“This race is probably the biggest sign of the tea party’s power and the freedom movement and if Texas can’t do it, nobody can do it,” Beck said. A snippet of the audio can be heard here.